Utilities for playing CP/M-86 games

CP/M-86 software can be run on any x86 computer, as well as many non-x86 platforms. How this is accomplished depends on what operating system your computer is running.

The CP/M-86 operating system is freeware and can be found operating systems section.

If you are using a DOS operating system (MS-DOS, PC-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS), there are a number of CP/M-86 emulators for DOS. These emulators also work within DOSBox.

If you are using any other operating system, you can install CP/M-86 in an emulation or virtualization program. Such programs allow you to run CP/M-86 and other operating systems as a "guest" operating system in a window on your "host" operating system. You can also run a CP/M-86 emulator from within a copy of DOS running within an emulator or virtualization program, or from within DOSBox.

Operating systems

CP/M-86 
CP/M-86 Freeware (always)
Published by Digital Research
Genre: Operating systems
User rating: 0 (0 votes)
CP/M-86 continued the legacy of CP/M on the x86 platform. Version 1.1 introduced support for hard drives. It was followed up by CP/M-86 Plus and Personal CP/M-86.

Downloads

CP/M-86 v1.1 (78,350 bytes) xxxx Play online

Availability

Lineo, Inc. graciously declared CP/M-86 freeware on 19 October 2001.

Emulation/Virtualization

DOSBox 
OS/2, Win9x Freeware (always)
Published by DOSBox Crew
Genre: Emulation/Virtualization
User rating: 10 (11 votes)
DOSBox emulates a complete IBM-compatible PC, including almost every significant graphics standard (CGA, EGA, VGA, etc.) and sound card (Sound Blaster, AdLib, Gravis UltraSound, etc.). DOSBox also allows the emulation speed to be decreased to allow very old software to run at a playable speed. What makes DOSBox unique is that it also emulates DOS itself, allowing DOS software to run without installing an actual copy of DOS! DOSBox emulates DOS so well that it is even possible to install Windows 3.1, as well as Windows 95 up to OSR1. It is also possible to install and boot an actual copy of DOS in order to use utilities not included with DOSBox, or just to recreate the authentic DOS experience. In additions to the versions listed below, there are also ports to a number of Linux distributions, so I recommend visiting DOSBox's home page if the version for your operating system isn't listed below.

DOSBox

Downloads

DOSBox for BeOS v0.63 (776,706 bytes) xxxx
DOSBox for Mac OS X v0.74 (2,157,599 bytes) 12 May 2010
DOSBox for OS/2 v0.72 (4,995,132 bytes) xxxx OS/2
DOSBox for Windows v0.74 (1,448,809 bytes) 12 May 2010 Win9x

Availability

This project is still actively being developed.
PCem 
Win9x Freeware (always)
Published by Tommo Walker
Genre: Emulation/Virtualization
User rating: 7 (1 vote)
PCem is a PC emulator that lets you configure pretty much everything about the emulation. Besides the usual ability to choose a graphics card and sound card, when you pick a CPU you can specify the MHz (i.e. 486 SX 33). The emulation is very accurate, but one of the reasons why its so accurate is that PCem requires the actual ROMs of the hardware that it emulates (fortunately, most of the software that you need is available on the PCem website). This means that you can actually enter the CMOS Setup! PCem pretty much recreates the entire PC experience.

PCem

Downloads

PCem v0.6 with source code in C (932,014 bytes) 19 December 2011 Win9x

Availability

This project is still actively being developed.
Virtual PC 
Win9x Freeware (former commercial)
Published by Microsoft
Genre: Emulation/Virtualization
User rating: 5 (2 votes)
Virtual PC allows almost any PC operating system to be run in Windows with virtually no loss of performance. You can run a real copy of DOS, OS/2, or Windows as a "Guest" operating system within your normal version of Windows (the "Host" operating system). Virtual PC is a virtualization environment, not an operating system emulator, so you will have to install your own copy of whatever OS you want to run as a Guest.

Virtual PC 2004 requires at least Windows 2000, and supports DOS, OS/2, and Windows 3.x (unofficially)/NT/9x/2000/XP/Server 2003 as Guests.

Virtual PC 2007 requires at least Windows XP, and adds support for 32-bit Windows Vista/Server 2008 Guests. Official support for DOS and Windows NT/95/98 First Edition/Me Guests was dropped, though they still work just fine.

The newest version, released on 19 September 2009, is called Windows Virtual PC. It requires Windows 7 and only supports Windows XP/Vista/7 Guests, so it is not useful for running any of the games on this site.

Virtual PC

Downloads

Virtual PC 2007 SP1 64-bit Freeware (33,381,416 bytes) 15 May 2008
Virtual PC 2007 SP1 32-bit Freeware (33,260,072 bytes) 15 May 2008
Virtual PC 2004 SP1 Freeware (19,058,331 bytes) 30 August 2006

Availability

Microsoft generously released Virtual PC 2004 as freeware on 12 July 2006. Virtual PC 2007 was originally released under a freeware license.

Miscellaneous

22DISK 
CP/M-86 Shareware (fully playable)
Published by Sydex
Genre: Miscellaneous
User rating: 0 (0 votes)
22DISK is the single most important utility in the history of retro computer archiving. At last count, 22DISK can read and transfer files to and from 8", 5.25" and 3.5" CP/M disks in 187 formats. Support formats include some of the most important 8-bit computers ever created, such as the Coleco ADAM, DEC Rainbow, Kaypro, Osborne 1, and TRS-80, as well as 16-bit IBM PCs running CP/M-86. 22DISK users created disk definitions for almost every format that 22DISK didn't natively support. 22DISK is one of a number of indispensible tools created by Sydex.

Downloads

22DISK v1.44 (232,479 bytes) 31 October 1996 DOS

Availability

Sydex no longer sells 22DISK, but offers data recovery services for pretty much every disk format in history.